County star Ashley McBryde on new album ‘Wild’ and heading back on tour

Key Concepts

• Autobiographical Songwriting: The practice of using personal life experiences, including trauma and upbringing, as the primary source material for music.
• "Ozark Mountain" Sound: A specific regional musical style characterized by McBryde as "swampy" and "backwards," which she was initially told would not be commercially viable.
• Artistic Vulnerability: The tension between the desire to be fully understood by an audience and the fear of exposing deeply personal, potentially controversial aspects of one's life.
• Residency vs. Touring: The contrast between a static, recurring performance model (Residency) used for "workshopping" material and the high-energy, large-scale production of traditional touring.

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1. Album Overview: Wild

Ashley McBryde’s fifth studio album, Wild, is described as an autobiographical project that blends rock and roll with country music. The album serves as a departure from previous work by leaning into a raw, unfiltered narrative style. McBryde emphasizes that the album is designed to encourage listeners to embrace their own "untamed" qualities.

2. Themes and Personal Narrative

McBryde explores several sensitive and deeply personal topics on the record:

• Religious Upbringing: Featured in the track "Rattlesnake Preacher," McBryde acknowledges that discussing her religious background carries the risk of offending family members, but she views this as a necessary risk for artistic honesty.
• Sobriety: Addressed in "A Bottle Told Me So," McBryde uses her music to shed light on her personal struggles with sobriety, hoping that by making her own problems visible, she can provide support or resonance for others facing similar challenges.
• The Title Track ("Wild"): Contrary to the high-energy connotation of the word, the title track is a slow-moving, controlled ballad. It reflects on her childhood dreams and the realization that the "wild" part of her was the ability to believe that anything was possible—a trait she aims to honor as an adult.

3. Artistic Evolution and Methodology

• Overcoming Industry Resistance: Early in her career, McBryde was discouraged from pursuing her "Ozark Mountain" sound. Her evolution involves moving past the fear of failure and the pressure to conform to mainstream expectations.
• The "Full Picture" Approach: To ensure she is "fully seen," McBryde has created a video for every song on the album, each depicting real-life events from her history.
• Live Performance Philosophy: McBryde prides herself on the fact that the studio album captures the authentic, high-energy sound of her six-piece band. She describes the live experience as having the power to "punch an audience in the face," emphasizing the use of live instruments and amplifiers over polished, over-produced studio sounds.

4. Performance Frameworks: Residency vs. Touring

McBryde contrasts her recent "Redemption Residency" with traditional touring:

• Residency (Workshopping): The residency model allowed for a controlled environment where the band could test new material. If a performance element failed on a Friday, it could be adjusted or removed by Saturday, allowing for iterative improvement.
• Touring: Touring serves as a broader platform to share the finished, high-impact product with a wider audience, whether headlining or supporting artists like Eric Church.

5. Notable Quotes

• On the fear of vulnerability: "It’s terrifying because the fear of being seen is just as big as the need."
• On the purpose of her music: "I just hope everybody listens to it at full volume. I can't wait for these songs to become stories that get said back to me at meet and greets."
• On the "Wild" concept: "I am grown up and I am what I wanted to be when I grow up. So I need to be able to honor that part."

6. Synthesis and Conclusion

The core takeaway from the interview is that Wild represents a pivotal moment in Ashley McBryde’s career where she has prioritized radical transparency over commercial safety. By integrating her personal history—from her religious roots to her struggles with sobriety—into a cohesive, rock-infused country sound, she aims to transform her private experiences into a shared human connection. The album is not merely a collection of songs, but a deliberate effort to bridge the gap between the artist's internal reality and the audience's lived experience.